Code of the Freaks (2020) User Reviews

Needed message

[cekadah · 7/10 · 2 January 2022]

Jramirez-66906 offers a nice review of this documentary about how disabled and physically different people are oftentimes portrayed in movies.

But one section of the docu gets into animation (cartoon) and I felt that was a bit off course. Plus it really isn't that necessary to have a real disabled person portray a disabled character. It's called 'actinng'!

I once saw an opera in which an asian singer played the leading role of a Scottish woman in an opera written by an Italian composer. Did it make a difference in the story -- no!

The Most Accurate Documentary About Disability in the Movies

[jramirez-66906 · 10/10 · 2 January 2021]

The documentary examines the misconceptions about the portrayal of characters with disabilities in the movies from actual advocates, writers, actors and historians who have examined more than 100 years of the cinema's view on disability. I found the range of topics going from: sex and disability, race and disability, the false message of inspirational story of a disabled person, deaf character stereotypes, blind character stereotypes, blindness as a superpower, and the so-called "happy ending" or resolution to a story of a character with a disability. The so-called "happy ending" can go in two or three ways: the disabled person has to be killed or cut off from life to restore order, the disabled person is institutionalized as a way to protect themselves from the outside world, or the disabled person is cured and does not need any form of special needs or guidance in the world. It is an insightful and in-depth documentary that makes you want to re-think about how Hollywood and movie's portrayal of disabled characters in movies can not only be misleading, but also dangerous to the disabled community in general. Hollywood must not rely on the same old stories of relying on disabled people as inspirational or cliched-stereotypes of characters who are villainous or victimized or pitied. But, one day that there will be a film with actual disabled people that are not inspirational, but living their daily lives in a humorous or ironic way that makes fun of the formula. That would be my ideal film to see when it gets made and put into a screening or a theater.